Viola Lee Blues forever!!!

Cuts and all, absolutely irresistible, essential Grateful Dead. No collection is complete without this one. Everything's rolling-thunder amazing.

Let me say something here about Pigpen. Pigpen, Ron McKernan, is THE example of what a frontman should do. I htink he was the greatest frontman of all time. It takes a real natural charisma to do it right, and I'm sorry, but far too many bands resort to having some spandex-douchebag preen around on stage....the trick is, I think, to have your frontman used as a "secret weapon", not the main course of the evening.

And when Pig lets loose, he does it with perfect dynamism, sort of simultaneously the center and not at the exact same time. His improv raps are the definition of delightful, and who in their right mind would accuse Pig of any ego-stroking macho posturing? That Midnight Hour is one of the best examples of Pig's charisma out there on tape.

What **Is** that "x" factor that he carries so easily, when so many other "frontmen" just come off as dorks?

Does anyone know the specifics of this In the Midnight Hour (date/venue)? Doesn't sound like 1967, maybe a year or two later (?)

I had a Maxell cassette (remember those?) in the early 80's with this version of Midnight Hour on it which I played until it wore out. If I could only pick one song of one show to have attended, this would be it. What a time this must have been, and a fine way to close out the Summer of Love.

I attended many Dead gigs in the Bay Area in 1966-68. This one in Rio Nido I missed; what a great musical experience! Thanks to all who made it possible to listen to this after all these years!

For Dark Star fans the Dancin' in the Streets is a must listen- as another reviewer has said you can absolutely hear the essence of dark star starting to congeal in the middle of it. Absolutely mind blowing.

It seems that this set list for this show is pretty much spot on. They just recently played this show on gdradio and every song was played in this order with the exception of midnight hour belonging at the end of the set. Great to hear some 67, this show has the sound and exploration that seems to be growing and oozing into the unknown, it is incredible to listen to a show from about a year prior to this, and one a year later, you can hear how the development of their sound begins to take its shape in these years.

;)

Happy 200! (since I couldn't say it for 100).

But there's no information to prove these songs don't apply to this date!.. That's my ancient alien theory. But seriously, I can't find anything suggesting this was the setlist for the night... Only In The Midnight Hour because Phil mentions it... Which is debatable as to where it stands within this slew of disorganized early Dead... Probably the closer since Pigpen raps (paraphrased) "just wanna tell you one more thing before I go" and at the beginning of Dancin', Phil talks about starting it... So, you be the judge.

Amazing Midnight Hour. I would kill for a chance to get up on stage and dance with Bobby! Viola Lee was high energy. Big Boss man... Awesome. And Elevator... I mean Alligator... Pigpen! I can almost hear Charlie Parker in there somewhere.

these rio nido sessions gave birth to dark star. according to Robert Hunter, he'd write the first verse listening to the boys practice in the dance hall, which he could hear from his cabin. you can hear dark star in th eguitar solo during an otherwise rough version of dancin' in the streets....i mean you can REALLY hear it trying to come out...what an amazing piece of american pop culture history.

I love the versions of Viola Lee and Dancin in the Streets! Perfect song for a Dance Hall

Wikipedia says that Donovan's "First There is a Mountain" was released in August 1967. This show may be the first ever appearance of that riff in a jam by ANYONE... two years before the ABB started doing it.

Too true everyone seems to be applauding Pig for this one, but in my copy Bobby is really prominent in the mix, and he is really really good.....

PigPen...births happiness in my soul...nice sloppy blues behind him...those slapping guitars and steady beat... taking me with them into a world where all pain stops...hypnotized

Yeah...the five stars are for this song alone

I really dig the Viola Lee Blues. It goes into so many different jams and seems to have matured than just the high energy jam that it was. You can almost see Dark Star jams in it. I think I hear a MLB jam in there too. Alligator is also awesome with high energy throughout and you can hear them itching to go into some other jam at the end and we see how this will become Caution. Midnight Hour goes without saying, just an awesome jam where they get lost in it and Pigpen is at his finest. A great show and I feel one of the best from '67. Crazy how in one year they've gone from short songs with an occasional freak out to this. I wish they would've done with Cream Puff War. Oh well, keep in mind you can find all these great shows for download at http://db.etree.org/LossLessLegs/Dead60s

This has got to be the greatest unreleased Grateful Dead set even though Midnight Hour and Viola Lee have been released. I thought the only weak spot was Viola Lee Blues. It just doesn't seem to fit in well with the dreamy bluesy recording. Jerry is already in transcendant from with Dancing In The Streets and Midnight Hour. Good Morning Little Schoolgirl sounds more like a free form jam and not as tight as it would become in 68 and 69. The fade out at the end sounds like you're waking from a daydream on the Mississippi Delta. And the dreamy Alligator, the sole original here, is to die for. RIP, Pig Pen.

Actually, Phil says this MH is the longest version he could find, not the best...but this VLB - with the end intact as a bonus track on the 1st album re-release - is a monster. O to have been one of those fortunate '25 people at this Russian River resort over the '67 Labor Day weekend', to ride the cosmic bull and get whipped by his slobber...now thats what I call a sunshine daydream.

This is the version of Midnight Hour that Phil Lesh states was the best performance ever of that song. He put it on his album "Fallout from the Phil Zone". Pigpen was really something.

Oh how I do love the sound of this recording the most plasticized analog sounds ever magnetized to tape, the velvet tongues of meastros Weir and Jerry truly intertwined for the first time (?) or perhaps the fifteenth ... certainly the number of tapes which captures this excercise in subconscious stimulation can be counted on one hand with no more than six fingers. Mr. McKernan does not disappoint (has he ever???) and the tale is ancient as the dehydrated rattle on a refugee snake lost in the High Mojave.

Johnny Garcia laid the seeds of a thousand bloomfields with his left hand and harvested them with his right. The thresher and the plow gorged the earth in parallel streams.

wont let me play or listen to a song, I skipped around trying different songs and miracusly only midnight hour played. And I enjoyed the whole 31 minutes. Pig's amazing, too bad becaude i was earning for that CR&S( my band has a 15min cover )..Is anyone else having problems and or how can I download this lovely set?

I remember this show really well because I actually gave Jerry a lift to the Dance Hall. I told him all I wanted was a really killer Midnight Hour. It's shows like these that are reason we LOVE this band. Stellar performance by every member. (Oh and I was one and half in Sept. 1967 so my driving was pretty bad)

If anyone would like to know, you can get this Viola Lee Blues without the end cut off on The Golden Road Box Set, or the 2003 reissue of their debut. I higly reccomend it because it really shreds.

what a great addition wish it wasnt lost in the later dead.. just that nice bluesy flow.. great to have in anyones collection.. love pig pen

Not sure where to start I was wondering what to say in reviewing this show for starters listen to this (I am right at the peak of the sizzling VLB jam where they go back into the lyrics) and then listen to some of the stuff from the winterland shows late in '74 - 2 diff bands, or two diff drugs jerry was on.... I am guessing this is crank because Cold Rain just rips, dancin, and midnight hour are all really hot. Sound quality is 3.5 but the jams are 4.5. These are all really long and fun to listen to.

This show also drives home the indescribable and undefinable role that Pig played in the band and how irreplaceable he was. Had he lived the 1972+ years would have been far different musically for starters there is no harmonica and at least a dozen songs he did like lovelight and midnight hour were dropped altogether, let alone alligator, good morning, big boss man. We share the same birthday and have always been a huge Pig fan part of the band died when he did.

worth the download of this show alone! Though this has been released on Fallout from the Phil Zone, I'm glad it's still available for free. Clocking in at 31:14, this jam is priceless early Dead. The improvisation at around the 12-14 minute mark is really dreamy and psychedelic and the Pig raps are very inspired. Though the sound quality on this song is rather hissy and degraded, it's certainly listenable and enjoyable.

The rest of the show is good '67, but it really sucks ass that Viola Lee is cut at both ends. It's a monster performance of this cut that most likely clocked in at nearly 30 minutes. Great jamming though, especially in Dancin, Schoolgirl, and an early Alligator (no segue into Caution yet).

little bit of distortion on this tape.......mix is a bit strange